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Being With DyingThis Professional Training Program for Clinicians in Compassionate Care of the Seriously Ill and Dying is fostering a revolution in care of the dying and seriously ill. Clinicians learn essential tools for taking care of dying people with skill and compassion.

ChaplaincyA visionary and comprehensive two-year program for a new kind of chaplaincy to serve individuals, communities, the environment, and the world.

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Series description: “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few. Our “original mind includes everything within itself. It is always rich and sufficient within itself. If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything. The beginner’s mind is the mind of compassion. When our mind is compassionate, it is boundless.” Shunryu Suzuki Roshi

How can we become intimate with our own mind? How can we discover our true nature of wisdom and compassion? What are the tools Zen practice offers for self-realization and how can we integrate the practice into our daily life? Is it necessary to have a teacher? This weekend-retreat is for people who are new to Zen practice as well as those who want to deepen their spiritual practice. We will explore the most important basic aspects of Zen practice through sitting meditation (Zazen), walking meditation (Kinhin) inside and outside the meditation hall (Zendo), liturgy, one hour of work practice (samu), silent meals, and a dharma-talk by Sensei Beate Genko Stolte. You will have ample opportunities to ask questions about Zen practice and sufficient time for discussions with the teacher and like-minded practitioners.

Speaker bio: Sensei Beate Genko Stolte is a Zen teacher and the first Dharma successor of Roshi Joan Halifax in the lineage of Taizan Maezumi Roshi. Born in Germany, she has practiced Zen for more than 20 years and was priest-ordained in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi (“Zen Mind, Beginners Mind”).

She has degrees in business administration and fiscal law. She has lived, practiced, and taught in Zen Buddhist communities in the United States, Switzerland and Germany and visited Japan for Zen Buddhist studies.

As a co-founder of a German Buddhist Study Center, she served as president of the board for ten years as well as director.